A Match Made In Heaven
by StandInTheRain42
Summary: A little one shot based on the episode in season two "Dead Uncles and Vegetables," where Lorelai is there for Luke after the death of his uncle.


_**A/N:**__** A little one shot based on the Dead Uncles and Vegetables episode. Just an added scene.**_

Lorelai overheard the entire conversation between Luke and the reenactors. She waited until Luke stormed away from them. The men continued to walk together, chattering amongst themselves, slowly moving so it didn't take long to catch up to them.

"Hey!" she yelled at the group of men. They all turned to look at her.

"Yes, Lorelai?" Taylor asked apprehensively.

"Listen up," Lorelai began, "You guys are going to go to Louie's funeral."

The men began a chorus of loud objections, and Lorelai held up a hand to silence them.

"We just told Luke-" Taylor started to complain, but Lorelai shushed him.

"I heard what you just told Luke," she responded, "I don't care. You guys are going to dress up in those ridiculous little outfits, and honor Louie Danes. I don't care if you didn't like him. I don't care what he did or what he said that made you hate him. The fact is that this means something to Luke. And I'll be damned if I let you guys let him down. Luke Danes has done so much for me and for every one of us at one time or another. Get off your lazy, petty, judgmental butts and get yourself to the cemetery tomorrow. Do it for Luke, do it for his dad, or I swear, I will make each and every one of your lives a living hell…"

"Lore-"

Lorelai grabbed Taylor's collar, eyes glistening dangerously.

"No, this is not up for debate, Taylor," she spat, "I don't care about any of your excuses, Luke is all I care about and he deserves your care and respect. He spends his entire life doing what makes other people happy, and his dad was everything to him. I will not have you guys making him feel like he let his father down. No. There is no way."

She let go of Taylor's collar once she was certain he had been intimidated enough. With one last withering stare at the crowd, she walked away.

The next day was also a busy one, starting off with talking Sookie out of her mother's crazy wedding plans. It took a while, but eventually her best friend began to see reason once again. Next thing she knew, she was getting a frantic call from Luke asking her to meet him at the funeral home.

When Lorelai got to the funeral home, she found Luke standing by his uncle's coffin. He proceeded to explain how the coffin wouldn't close because his uncle decided to be buried with all of his worldly possessions. Lorelai watched in concern as the veins in Luke's neck popped out dramatically. She touched his shoulder to try and keep him calm. It hurt to see him so upset. The lack of enthusiasm from his family and the town to attend Louie's funeral, along with planning it all by himself had taken a toll on his sanity.

"What if we moved the gas mask and the pith helmet down towards the feet?" suggested Lorelai.

"That end already has every baseball card he ever bought, thousands of them," Luke stated in an exasperated fashion. Lorelai's brow wrinkled.

"Oh, bungee cord! No," she exclaimed, "Um, what if we got some people from the office here, you know, accounting or whatever, to sit on the lid and then we could latch it? Do you have anybody you could spring…hm…I'm out of ideas."

"So am I," Luke mumbled. He shifted around, obviously agitated, "You know what, to hell with this. To hell with this!"

"Luke, now come on…"

"I can't deal with this anymore!" he yelled.

"Well, it has to be dealt with," Lorelai pointed out.

"No, it doesn't. It's not as if he deserves my help or my respect."

"The man was your uncle."

"He was a jerk!" Luke yelled.

"Don't say that," pleaded Lorelai.

"No, no, Taylor and the guys were right. I was cutting Louie slack out of respect for my dad, but the man was rotten and mean and selfish all his life. For God's sake, he's even selfish in death. Other people would've loved to have had those baseball cards. I would've loved to have those baseball cards. He's got Lou Gehrig's rookie card, Joe DiMaggio, Willie Mays, tons of others – but no! My uncle, King Tut, has to take all of them to the afterlife with him!"

"Sir, your voice," the funeral director chimed in.

"I'm done, I've had it. From now on, it's just the bare minimum and that's it," exclaimed Luke, "Dig a big hole and just dump the casket in unlatched. If stuff falls out, fine. Just pile on enough dirt and make sure nothing's showing!"

Lorelai watched in distress as Luke stormed out of the room.

"I'm assuming that wouldn't be appropriate either?" she joked at the pale funeral director.

"No," he answered.

"I didn't think so."

A couple hours later, Luke walked back into his diner. Lorelai was behind the counter again. He walked up to her and explained how he'd solved the problems with his uncle and the coffin. He left her to go change his clothes. When he returned, he was Lorelai's mother standing at the counter. Unsurprisingly, Lorelai had her eyes narrowed at her mother in annoyance.

"Hi."

Emily Gilmore eyed him suspiciously.

"Hello," she greeted quietly, "I have to go. I'll see you for dinner tonight, Lorelai. And Luke, I'm sure I'll see you again soon," and for some reason, Lorelai narrowed her eyes at her mother. Emily started to leave, but stopped when she reached the door and turned back to them, "What do you think of the Romanovs?"

Luke didn't understand why he was being asked that question, so he responded the best way he could.

"They probably had it coming."

Emily Gilmore rolled her eyes.

"A match made in heaven…" she mumbled at them as she walked out of the diner. Luke's brow furrowed as Lorelai glowered at her mother's disappearing figure.

"What was that about?" Luke asked suspiciously. Lorelai met his eyes tentatively, blood pooling in her cheeks.

"Oh, you know…the air in Hartford is quite a bit thinner…she was just suffering the side effects," Lorelai replied quickly. Luke cast her a funny look, but said nothing more of it nonetheless.

A couple hours later, Luke and Lorelai were standing over his uncle's grave, listening to the reverend talk about the afterlife. Luke spoke a few well-placed barbs about his uncle and his passing, while Lorelai shushed him. It didn't matter. All of this was for his dad, and his dad would have been happy with what Luke had done. And happy about the woman standing right next to him. But he couldn't help but worry that he wasn't anything like his dad. Like maybe...he was like Louie. He expressed these doubts out loud and Lorelai was quick to reassure him.

"You are not your uncle. I mean, would Louie ever build someone a chuppah, or help fix things around someone's house without being asked, or make a special coffee cake with balloons for a girl's sixteenth birthday?"

"Rory told you about that?"

"Yes. And would Louie have taken in his sister's kid without hesitating and without asking for anything in return?"

"No one would've trusted Louie with their kid. He probably would've forgotten to feed him or something."

"You get my point?"

"Yeah, I get it. What's that? Is that Andrew?"

"I believe it is."

"That's all of them…Thanks."

"It's what your dad wanted.

"Yeah. Oh, I know Louie would've hated this."

"That's just a fringe benefit."

"True," Luke responded. He cast a sidelong gaze at Lorelai. She looked back at him. Her expression was something he'd never seen before. He shook his head, convinced that he was just seeing things. Lorelai would never look at him that way.

The pair of them walked back to the diner together, Lorelai with her arm looped through Luke's. They went in contented silence.

Lorelai couldn't stop thinking about the last few days. And how lucky she was to have Luke in her life. Before they got back deep into town, she stopped walking, gently pulling Luke's arm. He stopped as well, turning to look at her.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Lorelai merely smiled at him. Before he had a chance to say anything else, her arms were sliding around his neck. He was surprised by this physical contact. But not nearly as surprised as she was when she kissed him.

Soft and sweet. And completely unbelievable. He pulled her closer, opening and deepening the kiss without even thinking twice. Lorelai's fingers ran along the skin of his neck and Luke's hands ran over the smooth material of her dress.

It was just a kiss and yet, it wasn't. It was an expression of shared feelings built up since the moment the two met. When the need for oxygen became too great, they pulled away from each other. Luke leaned his forehead up again Lorelai's breathing heavily. His heart was beating wildly.

"Lorelai," he whispered breathlessly.

"Shh…" Lorelai whispered back, pressing her index finger up against his lips. She smiled, "Don't overanalyze. I just…wanted you to know how I feel about you…" For the first time in the last week, Luke smiled for real. A bright, loving, breath-taking smile. Lorelai chuckled as Luke pulled her closer once more. He kissed her briefly, with much emotion and intensity that left Lorelai's head spinning.

"Back at ya," Luke responded after he pulled away. Lorelai smiled lovingly, gave him one more peck on the lips, and returned to the spot next to him. She intertwined his fingers with her own and the pair of them started off towards the diner.

After a few moments of silence, Lorelai spoke.

"Do you think he's in heaven?"

Luke laughed.

"I hope so, just so my dad can kick his butt around the place," he answered with ease.

"Can you kick when you're in heaven?" Lorelai asked.

"It's probably frowned upon," said Luke.

"Yeah, plus you're all see-through and gauzy and your dad's foot could go right through him…" Lorelai babbled. Luke grinned and lifted her hand up to his lips to kiss.

"This is a silly conversation," he mumbled.

As they walked back to the diner, Lorelai thought about what her mother had said. For once, Emily Gilmore was right: they really were a match made in heaven.


End file.
